I don't they thought about marriage before Carlisle mentioned it. I've always wondered if Jasper seen Maria since he left (sorry if somebody mentioned it already, I may have accidentally skipped a page D-:) I thought I read that he did and he asked Maria to leave him alone. I'm always fascinated with his relationship with Maria.

http://www.fanfiction.net/~justcallmeriley
After a century of instant gratification, I found self-discipline… challenging.-Jasper Whitlock Hale
Follow the sound of my voice and don’t open your eyes. You look, you lose, got it?-Jasper Whitlock Hale

JustcallmeRiley, do you have an objection to reading what Stephenie wrote in "Midnight Sun?" If not, check out the quote below:

Maria was the vampire who had created both Jasper and Peter—Jasper in the latter half of the nineteenth century, Peter more recently, in the nineteen forties. She’d looked Jasper up once when we were in Calgary. It had been an eventful visit—we’d had to move immediately. Jasper had politely asked her to keep her distance in the future.

Its been a while since I've read midnight sun, so I guess I forgot. Were Maria and jasper in love? He mentioned in Eclipse (pg,299) They were together as long as Edward and Carlisle, so hes comparing his relationship with Maria to Edwards and Carlisle's relationship, So I thought it wasn't a romantic relationship. In the official illustrated guise (pg.251) It says Maria never thought of Jasper as her mate.

http://www.fanfiction.net/~justcallmeriley
After a century of instant gratification, I found self-discipline… challenging.-Jasper Whitlock Hale
Follow the sound of my voice and don’t open your eyes. You look, you lose, got it?-Jasper Whitlock Hale

I believe you are correct. I remember there was a little surprise when the EC movie came out that the relationship was confirmed (kind of). Not so in the books, although there was some speculation that a little "vampires with benefits" might have been going on.

AFAIK, Stephenie never confirmed that. The IG states:

However, she never treated him as an equal or thought of him as her mate. As was normal for the vampire temperament, Maria never forgot her deceased mate or moved on.

Of course, Victoria was able to grin and bear it for Riley, so loss of a mate doesn't mean she was incapable.

But although the IG isn't explicit, I take her emphasis in two consecutive sentences as essentially saying "No" without having to come right out and say it or contradict the movie. My opinion only.

"It will take an amazing amount of control,” she mused. “More even than Carlisle has. He may be just strong enough…the only thing he’s not strong enough to do is stay away from her. That’s a lost cause.”

"Vampires with benefits" hahaha. I wonder if Jasper had feelings for Maria? I'm going to guess he didn't.

http://www.fanfiction.net/~justcallmeriley
After a century of instant gratification, I found self-discipline… challenging.-Jasper Whitlock Hale
Follow the sound of my voice and don’t open your eyes. You look, you lose, got it?-Jasper Whitlock Hale

Esme echo wrote:If Jasper had been in love he wouldn't have been able to walk away so easily.

Good point. I'd also add that Marie would find it impossible to fool Jasper the way that Victoria fooled Riley. When I say "grin and bear it", I assume that is actually how Victoria felt. She didn't like it, but she could compartmentalize that to some degree. I don't think Marie could try doing the same thing without Jasper noticing that something was very off, that her actions and emotions were in conflict. Marie would have to be an extremely good actress with extraordinary mental discipline to pull that off, and do it time and time again over decades.

Also to your point, Jasper wasn't torn emotionally due to leaving Marie, it was due to his miserable life. The IG states right before Jasper left that both he and Marie were making plans to kill each other. That doesn't quite jive with having a romantic relationship.

"It will take an amazing amount of control,” she mused. “More even than Carlisle has. He may be just strong enough…the only thing he’s not strong enough to do is stay away from her. That’s a lost cause.”

I'm a little surprised that Maria was able to keep Jasper loyal to her for such a long time. Where was his natural independence? He did her bidding without question -- until he bailed, seeking an end to his depression. He didn't realize there was an alternative to constant war, so maybe he thought he had to be in someone's coven (hard to make it alone in that culture), and it might as well be Maria's.

Esme echo wrote:I'm a little surprised that Maria was able to keep Jasper loyal to her for such a long time. Where was his natural independence? He did her bidding without question -- until he bailed, seeking an end to his depression. He didn't realize there was an alternative to constant war, so maybe he thought he had to be in someone's coven (hard to make it alone in that culture), and it might as well be Maria's.

Another good point.

I'm going to assume his understanding of the vampire world was similar to Peter's.

Sorry to keep going back to the IG, but my memory isn't fresh and its surprising how many answers the IG actually supplies.

As the time for Charlotte’s demise approached, Peter agonized over his options. To his understanding, the world was entirely made up of warring factions of strong vampires surrounded by newborn armies. He had powerful allies in Jasper and Maria; he was in as good a position as possible for a three-year-old vampire. His best option was to convince Jasper to leave Charlotte alive. Peter could barely conceive of trying to strike off on his own with Charlotte—they’d be massacred in no time.

I wish I could rattle that off the top of my head, but it's been a while.

Jasper leaving seems like such a simple, obvious solution. I would guess his belief was that small covens or loners don't survive. That would explain why he was willing to fight Maria for control rather than leave, until Peter showed back up with good news about the outside world.

"It will take an amazing amount of control,” she mused. “More even than Carlisle has. He may be just strong enough…the only thing he’s not strong enough to do is stay away from her. That’s a lost cause.”